Rameen Ghafoor

🧭 Project Overview​

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Pxio is a mobile and desktop app that allows users to instantly share visual content across nearby devices connected to the same Wi-Fi network. Designed for co-working spaces and teams, it prioritizes speed, access control, and data privacy—removing the need for cloud uploads or third-party storage.

Key features included:

• Role-based access control (RBAC)

• Visibility filters (who can see whom on the network)

• End-to-end content encryption

• Ephemeral session sharing (auto-deletes after 1 hour)

 

👤 My Role

 

I was the sole Product Designer on a compact team that included:

• 3 Engineers (front-end and back-end)

• 1 Product Manager

We built the MVP in a focused 2-week sprint, and I led UX strategy, interface design, prototyping, and user feedback collection.
I was responsible for:

• Defined and iterated UX flows and product strategy to align with user needs and platform access models.

• Led user research and journey mapping, transforming feedback into actionable insights for secure onboarding and access controls.

• Created and tested interactive prototypes for enterprise SaaS, enabling early feedback and ensuring alignment with Trust and Safety principles.

• Partnered with product and engineering to maintain a unified design system, improving cross-platform UX and reducing cognitive load.​

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🔧Tools

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• Figma

• Stories On Board

• Atlassian

• Storybook

• HubSpot

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🧩 The Problem

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Existing file-sharing tools like AirDrop or WeTransfer fell short in several critical ways:

• They were either OS-specific or not truly cross-platform, limiting seamless sharing across different devices.

• They were too open by default, allowing unintended users on the same network to access shared files without proper controls.

• They lacked permission management suitable for dynamic workspaces—like coworking environments—where visibility over who can see or access files needs to be both customizable and simple.

• Traditional solutions relying on cables, wires, or physical sockets introduced additional problems: they were inconvenient, cluttered shared spaces, created compatibility issues between devices, and often required adapters or extra hardware.

 

We needed a lightweight, secure, and private solution that enabled selective content sharing without physical connections, offering easy, flexible permission controls tailored for dynamic shared environments like WeWork.​​​​​​​

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🔍 Discovery & Research

To understand the needs and expectations, I:

• Conducted 5 user interviews with freelancers, facilitators, and remote teams

• Benchmarked tools like Snapdrop, Slack, AirDrop, and Nearby Share

• Mapped common UX failures, especially around visibility and access assumptions

 

Key insight: people wanted quick sharing but with clear limits and awareness—they needed to trust who could see them and their content.

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✏️ Design Process

Although I no longer have access to the early wireframes, my process included:

• Mapping key flows: onboarding, visibility control, file send/receive

• Low-fidelity prototyping in Figma

• Real-time feedback and testing at Halle4 - WeWork with nearby users

• Iterative updates based on ease-of-use concerns

• One of the biggest UX challenges was designing access controls that felt invisible—users didn’t want to “configure permissions” but needed them to work intuitively.

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🔄 Testing & Iteration

We tested with 8–10 users inside Halle4 -WeWork and made iterative improvements:

• Added a real-time “Active Peers” panel showing who was discoverable

• Simplified success/failure indicators during file transfer or establishing a connection

• Created a default visibility filter: “Only teammates can see me”

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✅ Final Solution

 

• Card-based UI to represent nearby devices and their roles

• Drag-and-drop file send flow with instant feedback

• RBAC baked into onboarding: Admins, Editors, Viewers

• Session-based encryption: content automatically expires

• Visibility Scope toggle: quickly set who can discover or interact with you​

• You can see the prototypes that were created below. These prototypes represent the iterative product screens for Pxio, showing how users could control visibility, manage roles, and share content seamlessly.

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📊 Results & Feedback

While informal, our testing yielded clear positive outcomes:

• 67% of test users said Pxio felt “faster and more private” than their current workflow

• Stakeholders praised the simplicity and minimal visual friction

• 2 teams adopted Pxio as a pilot tool during design sprint reviews

• Users especially loved the clarity around “who can see me”

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💡 Learnings & Reflections

 

• Simplicity + security requires thoughtful defaults—most users won’t manually manage settings

• In shared network environments, visibility is UX — people want awareness, not just control

• What I’d do differently:

  • Capture and save early sketches/wireframes

  • Use structured tools for collecting feedback

  • Plan for long-term case study storytelling from the start